"Only we three, in all this world, speak English. I know it because—"
I interrupted her.
"Suppose I tell him our whole story, Miela? Then—"
"That's certainly what I want to hear," said Mercer emphatically. "And especially why it is that I'm not supposed to want to get back to where I belong."
My explanation must have lasted nearly an hour, punctuated by many questions and exclamations of wonder from young Mercer. I told him the whole affair in detail, and ended with a statement of exactly how matters stood now on Mercury.
"Do you want to hurry back home to earth now?" I finished.
"Duck out of this? I should say not. Why, we've got a million things to do here."
His eyes turned again toward Anina.
"And, say—about letting those girls keep their wings. I'm strong for that. Let's be sure and fix that up before we leave."
It was not more than half an hour later when the king's guards arrived to conduct us to the castle. Meanwhile young Mercer had discovered he was hungry and thirsty. As soon as he had finished eating we started off—he and I, with Lua and Miela. The guards led us away as though we were prisoners, forming a hollow square—there were some thirty of them—with us in the center. We attracted little attention from passersby; the few who stopped to stare at us, or who attempted to follow, were briskly ordered away.